Once upon a December
by Greencookies
Summary: Samantha thinks about her past Christmases in Der Riese and how quickly things can change in one night.  Oneshot


(_ I really wanted to write about Samantha for some reason _)

Samantha stared at the pyramid. How long did have they been here? Years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, _seconds_? It did not matter. Soon, this will be nothing. Dempsey, Nikolai, and, her favorite, Takeo will reverse this all and things will turn back to normal. They'll be just another random soldier in a meaningless war and she'll be a lonely girl stuck in a unforgiving factory. Even though she had no friends and her daddy was always to busy to play with her, she still had some fond memories of the wicked place.

Her first Christmas there was awkward but still fun. The staff was particularly cold towards Samantha when she tried to hand them their presents, which was paper houses she cut and glued herself. Though, her father Dr. Maxis, Richtofen, and Sophia accepted the presents with glee. In return, her father Dr. Maxis gave her Fluffy, who looked so innocent, Richtofen gave her a plush monkey with symbols and a basket to hold her pencils, and Sophia gave her a new pair of shoes( which Samantha refused to wear of out pure hatred for the woman later on).

Even though her father tried to make up for it, Samantha still felt horribly saddened by the loss of her mother. On Christmas eve, Samantha had forgotten. She forgot her mother died in a car crash, that her father moved her away from her birth town Naumburg to an underground facility, the staff glaring at her behind there big rimmed glasses because of all the trouble she got in, or how she had no one but Fluffy to play with. Of course as she stumbled out of her living quarters (not bedroom-no, definitely not. Those belonged in houses. Not factories), realization hit her and she felt saddened once again.

Of course, Samantha eventually overcome this, and soon Christmas became more enjoyable. She wouldn't let life's shortcoming overcome her. A quote she heard her father say she would repeat over and over again.

_"Life is too short to dwell on the past and worry about the future"_

She had no idea what dwell meant, but she was sure her father knew what he was talking about.

When the staff glared at her, she would extend the sides of her mouth with her hands and stretch her eyes out. After they scowled and shuffled away Samantha would burst into a fit of giggles in the hallway. Some tried to stop and tell her how "unladylike" she was being, but Samantha would hold her silly face in place until the killjoy stomped away. Only one person ever dared to do it back to Samantha, and that was Richtofen. Samantha couldn't help it, and laughed till her sides hurt when he mimicked her.

As holidays went on, her father became more and more exclusive. One year he only spent one hour with Samantha on New Years, and quickly went back to his lab (or "Intellectual Study and Recreation Room" as he called it). This of course upset Samantha, and even more when Richtofen had started to act really creepy and rude. Her last Christmas is when he completely avoided her at all costs. Of course she knew why now, he was planning on testing on Fluffy and didn't dare look her in the eyes over it. Back then, she did not. Samantha knew better than to wander into his room to ask him to play with her, last time she did she seen a man cut open with no spleen. And a Monkey, but let's not dwell on that too much.

She thought about maybe asking Sophia to play with her, but she hated that woman. She was trying to replace mommy. Richtofen had became insane and completely rude to Samantha ever since daddy found him in the teleporter after he'd been missing for a month. She didn't bother asking. Soon after wandering the empty blue halls she returned to her living quarter and stroked a once sleeping Fluffy.

"Why won't Daddy talk to me? Why won't he come out and play and give me a gift?" She faintly remembered asking the dog, who only wagged her tail in response. Fluffy was always like her personal diary, something that would keep her secrets without telling a soul or repeating a cliché response ( _"It gets better"_,_ "You have it good compared to others"_) that her father gave out. Soon after Samantha slept on her bed. Sometime during this, her father or Richtofen must have dragged Fluffy out. How they got her out without the relatively light sleeper Samantha knowing is beyond her knowledge. At about 12:00 am, Samantha woke up after a nightmare. She looked around for Fluffy to talk about it with her, but found her no where. Samantha always had the door closed, and as she glanced at it with minimal lamp light, she could see it was jarred open slightly.

She grabbed a light blue petticoat and trudged through the hallways silently. Everyone was sleeping at this time and she didn't feel like getting in trouble for waking them up. Holding her lamp up to corners and dark hallways Samantha searched for her dog. After 15 minutes Samantha heard her dog, yelping. She rushed towards the sound as it got louder and voices started to appear. As she approached the Animal Testing labs Samantha slowed her heartbeat and leaned slightly against the door . She could just make out voices.

"If you had done it to my specifications, then it would have worked, wouldn't it? As usual your incompetence has-" The man, who sounded like her father, was drowned out by a loud sound that echoed followed by a growling. Samantha tried to peek through the window, but was too short.

"Did you hear that, Doctor?"

"Quiet you fool! Test number six is a failure, but the experiment has caused some kind of electrical force to energize within the chamber. Well, open the door"

Samantha took this time to enter, silently peeking from the crack in the door. What she had seen had exposed her worst nightmares. Her dog, stuck inside a teleporter while her father treated her as nothing more than a "Test number six". Her father and the other man, Richtofen, bickered over the door. Finally, Samantha decided to make her presence known.

Of course, we all know what happens now. Samantha screams for her dog as Richtofen quickly exits and traps Dr. Maxis and his daughter in the room, a landmark for our zombie storyline. To Samantha's surprise, her new teammates knew the story too. Richtofen had accidentally left the recorder on, and they happened to find it. Of course, they didn't know the previous events.

Maybe once they reverse this back to normal she should write a book. _Samantha's tale: Life underground__. _She imagined the press crowding her, asking her how she liked being the most famous 12 year old in the universe. She would eventually go on to be ruler of the world, where everyone would be forced to admire her. Oh, how she couldn't wait. She imagined a giddy fan talking to her.

"_Lady Samantha,how does it feel to have so much power?"_

"_Fine, minion. Great, wonderful, every happy word in the book. Thrilling"_

"_Lady Samantha, how do-"_

"Child"

Suddenly, Samantha's daydream fluttered away to her dismay. The fan had been replaced by an aging Takeo.

"Hurry, Stupid American is trying to kill the last crawler." He told her. She glided towards him.

"Takeo, do you remember celebrating Christmas? Like with a wife or kids?"

"I killed my family for insolence" He abruptly answered.

"Oh... Maybe we can celebrate Christmas. Sing Christmas songs and give presents?"

He looked around, confused. " Presents?"

"Yeah, like guns. We could give each other guns that we'd been wanting." She proposed

"Good luck getting those pigs to give up their weapons." Takeo humored, walking ahead.

"Uh. Do we have an ax around here?" She innocently asked, but shot Takeo a sinister smile.

"We need the Russian, as much as I hate to say it." He picked up, smirking a little. Samantha giggled, happy Takeo knew what she was talking about. The two walked towards the others outside.

( Somewhat inspired by The Book Theif and Christmas songs.)


End file.
